In the drilling of oil and gas wells, drilling rigs are used to create a well by drilling a wellbore into a formation to reach oil and gas deposits. During the drilling process, as the depth of the wellbore increases, so does the length and weight of the drillstring. A drillstring may include sections of drill pipe, a bottom hole assembly, and other tools for creating a well. The length of the drillstring may be increased by adding additional sections of drill pipe as the depth of the wellbore increases. Various electrically powered components of a drilling rig can be used to advance the drillstring into the formation.
Electrical power supplied to such components may be generated and distributed at the drilling rig. For example, power houses may be installed at the drilling rig to contain electrical power distribution devices, breakers, variable frequency drives (VFD), motor starters, programmable logic controllers (PLC), data acquisition systems, and other electrical devices. One of these houses (e.g., a local electrical room (LER)) may be linked to a rig central package for controlling the power distribution and control at/near the central package. In the case of a walking rig, the LER may be attached to and move with the central package.